"We have in our experience a perception that we are eternal…we perceive that our mind is eternal, and that this its existence cannot be defined by time or interpreted by duration." Baruch Spinoza, (1632-1677), Dutch philosopher, 'Ethics', Book V, Proposition 23

"Teaching is not a matter of something being placed in one person by another, but is a question of eliciting something that is already present, although only implicitly and latently, at hidden depths of the individual's mind." Ira Progoff (b. 1921), 'The Symbolic and the Real'

4

"For those who have found the still point of eternity, around which all, including themselves – revolves, everything is acceptable as it is; indeed, can even be experienced as glorious and wonderful." Joseph Campbell, 'Oriental Mythology'

5

"Man is the dialogue between nature and God." J. W. von Goethe (1749-1832), German poet

6

"Not only souls but animals also are ingenerable and imperishable; they are only developed, enveloped, reclad, stripped, transformed; souls never leave the whole of their body, and do not pass from one body to another which is entirely new to them." Leibniz (1646-1716), German philosopher and mathematician, 'Principles of Nature'

7

"We live in a universe of hope and promise."

8

"The divine perfection of the individual soul is the aim of all progression." Giordano Bruno (1548-1600), Italian philosopher and poet

9

"Of this I am sure…that we ARE here for a purpose. And that we go on. Mind and memory – they are the eternals." Henry Ford (1863-1947), American businessman, interview in the Hearst papers, April 27, 1938

10

"Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans never doubted that we had souls drafted from the universal Divine intelligence." Cicero (106-43 bce), Roman statesman and philosopher, 'On Old Age'

11

"There are good reasons for making the following important assertion: A soul is indestructible and immortal. It carries an indelible record of all its activities." Gustaf Stromberg (1882-1962), Swedish-American astronomer and physicist, 'The Soul', ch. 11

12

"The resources of wisdom are hidden in the depths of the human being." Ira Progoff (b. 1921), American psychologist, 'The Symbolic and the Real'

"Then everything becomes one, all individualities are merged into one, yet each knowing itself, a mysterious teaching indeed. But then, that which to us now is non-conscious or the unconscious, will then be absolute consciousness." H. B. Blavatsky, 'Transactions of the Blavatsky Lodge'

17

"I am conscious of Eternal Generation, that I am what never lay in the cradle and no coffin can hold, but sits behind smiling at what was brought forth..." Cyrus A. Bartol (1813-1900), Unitarian minister, 'The Rising Faith'

18

"Our soul, that is, the personality behind our mind, is born with a true knowledge of fundamental realities. This knowledge is in a subconscious form, but by intellectual efforts, stimulated and aided by observations, we can bring it up to the level of consciousness." Gustav Stromberg (1882-1962), Swedish-American astronomer and physicist, 'The Searchers'

19

"The whole infinity of discrete and independent souls is yet fused into a vast Whole…within the immensity of the World Soul." Dorothea Waley Singer, 'Giordano Bruno, His Life and Thought'

20

"This is to be understood by the heart: there is no separateness at all." The Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad

21

"There is somewhat of the absolute and eternal in every human soul…something that transcends time and space and organic form, and makes eternity for the soul to be the continuous unfolding of a perpetual and indestructible principle of life." William J. Potter (1830-1893), Unitarian minister, article in 'The Radical', April 1868

22

"There is a light which enlightens every one that comes into the world; there is a faculty in all to perceive spiritual truth when distinctly presented." George Ripley, founder of Brook Farm, a 19th century Transcendentalist commune, letter to friends

"By whatever name religion may be known, its understanding and practice are the essence of a peaceful mind and therefore of a peaceful world. If there is no peace in one's mind, there can be no peace in one's approach to others, and thus no peaceful relations between individuals or between nations." The Dalai Lama, 'My Land and My People'

25

"The virtues we acquire, which develop slowly within us, are the invisible links that bind each one of our existences to the others." Honore de Balzac, 'Seraphita'